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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

The Soyuz rocket mated with the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft rolled out on Tuesday morning to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Launch is scheduled for 6:49 a.m. CDT on March 26. Soyuz TMA-14 will bring ISS Expedition 19 crewmembers Roman Romanenko and Michael Barratt to the International Space Station, as well as the spaceflight participant, Charles Simonyi.

Click on photos for Flickr. Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA

Robert Pearlman

Click on photos for Flickr. Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA

Robert Pearlman

First two-time commander, spaceflight participant launches to space station

Soyuz TMA-14 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:49 a.m. CDT Thursday with International Space Station Expedition 19 crew members Gennady Padalka and Michael Barratt, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi.

They are scheduled to arrive at the station at 8:14 a.m. on March 28.

Padalka, who flew under the same call sign "Altair" as he did in 2004 when he led the station's ninth crew, will be commander of Expeditions 19 and 20.

Barratt, making his first flight, will serve as a flight engineer for those two missions.

Padalka and Barratt's other crewmember, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), arrived at the station on March 17 with space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 crew.

Simonyi, who is flying to the station under a commercial agreement with the U.S. company Space Adventures, Ltd. and the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, previously visited the outpost in April 2007. He is the first spaceflight participant to make a second flight to the station and will spend ten days onboard.

Simonyi will return to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-13, currently docked at the station, on April 7 with Expedition 18 crewmembers Mike Fincke and Yuri Lonchakov, who have been on the station since October 2008.

Expedition 19 will continue science onboard the station and prepare the outpost for the arrival of three more crewmembers to form the first six-person contingent.

Robert Pearlman

Click on photos for Flickr. Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA

Robert Pearlman

Soyuz TMA-14 commander Gennady Padalka, flying under manual control, docked his spacecraft at the International Space Station at 8:05 a.m. CDT Saturday, about nine minutes ahead of schedule.

According to Russian officials speaking at a post-docking press conference, the manual docking was the result of a thruster failure, which resulted in the automated Kurs docking system directing the Soyuz to back away from the station.

"First happy anniversary," said Barratt to his wife of 28 years, "and thanks for letting me do all this, it was an awfully fun ride! I know we're going to miss you all, but it is going to be a terrific 200 days up here."

"We're going to be watching from down here," replied Michelle Barratt, "and we are very proud what you're doing."

Returning to Earth with them is Canadian spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté, who arrived at the station on Oct. 2 with Expedition 21 flight engineers Jeff Williams and Maxim Suraev aboard Soyuz TMA-16.

The hatches between TMA-14 and the station will be closed around 5 p.m. on Saturday with the undocking set for 8:07 p.m. and landing at 11:31 p.m. CDT.

Robert Pearlman

Soyuz TMA-14: Hatch closure and crew farewell

The hatches between Soyuz TMA-14 and the International Space Station were closed at 5:06 p.m. CDT Saturday, October 9 following a farewell between the two spacecrafts' crew members.

The Soyuz is scheduled to undock with Expedition 20 commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Michael Barratt, as well as spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté, at 8:07 p.m. with a landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 11:31 p.m. CDT.

Credit: NASA TV

Robert Pearlman

Soyuz TMA-14 undocks from the station

Soyuz TMA-14 undocked from the International Space Station at 8:07 p.m. CDT, six months and 12 days after arriving at the outpost.

Expedition 20 commander Gennady Padalka, flying under the callsign "Altair", and flight engineer Michael Barratt, together with Canadian spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté, separated from the station while flying 220 miles over northern China.

Rather it's a typo (copied from YouTube) for "spaceflight participant," which is the partner-agreed upon title for those who visit the station without being part of a long duration expedition, regardless if they are self- or third party-funded.